Which is better bio balls or ceramic rings?

Bio balls only carry nitrifying bacteria. Ceramic noodles can carry both nitrifying bacteria on the surface and denitrifying bacteria inside. That makes ceramic rings the hands down winner since they can carry both types of bacteria.

Are ceramic rings good for aquarium?

Ceramic rings are extremely porous, which provides a lot of surface area for beneficial bacteria Due to its cylindrical shape, water flows through it easily and makes it less likely to clog. … Using this bio balls in your filter system, naturally good bacteria will create in your fish tank.

Are ceramic bio balls good?

Bio balls should only be used for biological filtration only. They simply exist to trap and remove waste. Ceramic rings will ultimately trap more bad stuff, but your bio balls will ultimately do a better job of denitrifying bacteria.

How long do ceramic bio rings last?

It takes a good few weeks for the bacteria population to replenish itself, during which time your aquarium becomes susceptible to ammonia and nitrate buildups. However, other manufacturers recommend that ceramic rings in aquariums be replaced every 6 to 8 months.

Are bio balls worth it?

Bio balls provide a place for all the good nitrifying bacteria you need in your tank to live. … This is why they have grooves and spaces, as this allows more bacteria to cling to the ball, making these more effective compared to simple spheres.

What do ceramic bio rings do?

Ceramic rings are biological media that provides a very large surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow and live. This bacteria on your ceramic rings is required to complete the Nitrogen Cycle in your tank, which converts harmful ammonia and nitrite in to the less harmful nitrate.

How often should you replace ceramic rings?

Even the manufacturers don’t agree! Fluval, for example, recommends that ceramic rings be swapped out every 6 months. Marineland, another ceramic filter manufacturer, states that the rings should never be replaced.

How long do Bio balls last?

How long do Bio-Balls last? Bio-Balls are made to have a large SA to encourage the growth of marine nitrifying bacteria. Once they have a stable poulation, changing them would leave you without all of the bacteria that had grown there. They should last forever.

Which filter media is best?

The Best bio filter media
  • Biohome Ultimate Filter Media.
  • Seachem Matrix Bio Media.
  • Fluval Biomax Bio Rings.
  • Marineland Bio-Filter Balls.
  • EHEIM Substrat Pro Biological Filter Media.

Are bio balls good or bad?

And, plastic bio balls have been designed to provide as much surface area as possible for the bacteria to cling to. … The foam is perfect for growing large colonies of nitrifying bacteria. It’s what makes a sponge filter so good at biological filtration – the process of ammonia and nitrites being converted to nitrates.

Do bio balls need to be cleaned?

If you periodically rinse them off and keep them clean, nitrate and bio-balls woes should decrease, as long as this is the sole source of the nitrate problem in the aquarium. Cleaning them requires only 30 minutes or less.


How many bio balls are needed per gallon?

Excellent filtration media for bacteria colonization, each bioball is approximately 1.5″ x 1.25″ in diameter. 750 bioballs equal 1 cubic foot, and 100 bioballs equal 1 gallon.

Do bio balls cause nitrates?

Bio balls trap detritus and allow nitrates to build up

And either way if you use bio balls properly and place an efficient mechanical filter before them, to trap any detritus, there won’t be any detritus to get stuck in the bio balls.